The beginning of the story goes like this:

Elizabeth studied in the Military Academy of the Royal Academy, which was mostly attended by the children of the nobles of Nari, and few of the commoners or students of the industrial and commercial class, and it was said that the Military Academy of the Royal Academy had an invisible threshold for study, and the nobles could not give up the most important military power, even the most basic learning rights.

This reason is obviously incorrect or incomplete; The aristocracy may be reluctant to give in, but with the growing parliament and the power of both parties, the Royal Academy, as the lair of the griffons, certainly does not lean exclusively towards the old-fashioned feudal aristocracy.

The real reason is that the study in the military academy is very difficult, and the tuition required is very high, which can be comparable to the tuition fee of the Demon Court, and more than double that of the normal business school and science college.

Of course, Her Royal Highness Elizabeth does not need to worry about the high tuition fees, what she is really worried about is the academic problems, there are many theories that need to be learned to lead the army, and the requirements for royal people are even more frightening.

Maybe she would have complained a word or two before, but not now, because she probably wouldn't have known the boy without these academic problems.

She remembers that it was an afternoon before the midterm exams in the middle of the first semester of her first year, and there was no shortage of quiet people in the noisy Royal Academy, and Elizabeth was one of them, who was troubled by her dissertation.

"Magic is a part of modern warfare that has to be considered. As good commanders, you must not only know how to use magic in war, but also have a certain understanding of all its principles and costs. This week's assignment, a 2,500-word essay on the use of magic in modern warfare, will be submitted to me next weekend, requiring at least fifteen citations, in strict accordance with the [Haytham Citation Format Example]... That's it, class! ”

In the middle of the class, the unquestionable words of the professor on the stage came, and he left the classroom without caring about the students who were grieving all over the audience.

Such strict requirements even the perfect smile on Elizabeth's face, as the eldest princess, was a little unbearable, and she endured it for a whole day, until she couldn't help but hug these sisters quite softly at the tea party with the noble ladies in the afternoon,

"I shouldn't have taken this course, we haven't even finished basic military management. And I have to face four exams next week, how can I finish writing... I know basically nothing about magic, so it looks like I'm going to have to drop out..."

"Ah, it's rare to hear that Her Royal Highness Princess Elizabeth is so unconfident."

Among the many aristocratic sisters, an older sister who was in the third year of the Faculty of Arts smiled at Elizabeth, who was the youngest but sitting on the throne, and after a moment of hesitation, she proposed a "possible helper" to Elizabeth.

"But don't worry too much, I actually have a helper here... I have a distant cousin who has recently come to Saint-Nari, his name is Trandel, and he is in business school. He didn't want to live with us, so he rented a house in the city and shared it with a student at the Academy of Magic. ”

Speaking of which, the sister introduced the relationship between her family casually, and slowly led to the topic,

"His roommate is not simple, he is the first in the entrance exam of the magic academy, and he has just completed the full course plus three electives in his first year, and I heard that the professor of the magic class is going to let him complete all the content in this midterm, which is his own request..."

"I heard Trandall say that the child came from a poor background. Your Highness can write to him and ask for his help, and he will definitely help you. ”

Before she could finish her words, the other sisters next to her sneered, covered their mouths and laughed,

"Is this advice to be dispensed with, and to have Her Royal Highness Elizabeth write a letter to a poor student asking for his help in completing an academic thesis? It's too embarrassing for this to get out, isn't it? Or do you just want Her Highness Elizabeth to throw this person away? ”

"No... No, how dare that? ”

When she said this, the sister who opened her mouth to suggest turned pale, and quickly laughed awkwardly, and explained.

Well, maybe she did have some ill-thought-out, if it was another noble child, it might not matter, but Her Royal Highness Elizabeth definitely can't do this...

Elizabeth also knew that she was unintentional, and did not pursue it, but also played a round gently, and asked,

"I'll think about it, what's his name?"

"Ah, Fisher! Fisher Benavides, that's the name, Trandel mentions it many times, so I remember..."

Elizabeth smiled, but everyone knew that it was impossible for Her Highness to write a letter to inquire about academic papers, after all, her status as the eldest princess was still here.

"All right, everyone, that's all there is to the grumbling, I'm going to church to pray, farewell, ladies."

"Goodbye, Your Highness."

The Cult of Mother God is the state religion of Nari, or rather, all the kingdoms of the Western Continent are deeply influenced by the Church of Mother God, but the churches of several kingdoms are different.

In order to show the closeness of the royal family to the church, Elizabeth's outward mildness made it better for her to add the identity of a "devout believer in the mother goddess", which would make the people feel more close and liked.

It's just that Elizabeth may have wondered in her heart what the purpose of this is.

Nari's royal daughter could not inherit the throne in any case, so what could he do if he was loved by the people?

The answer is, as a political resource, a political resource of marriage.

Someday in the future, when the Emperor needs to support a nobleman or other power that can be relied upon, perhaps the rising star of the Griffin Party, or the pioneer of the New Party, he may marry himself to those people in order to gain the support of the people, so as to strengthen the connection between the Golden Palace and them.

Elizabeth understood that this was her best fate.

She may have some whispers in her heart, but she also understands the hardships of the royal family or her father, and understands the difficulty of change, maybe she is indeed a little resigned, so she plays the role of a gentle and friendly eldest princess, until she marries a strange gentleman and spends the rest of her life.

That day, she rode in a carriage to the largest church in St. Nari to pray.

In front of the spacious prayer hall, like thousands of churches, there was a statue of the kind Mother Goddess, who quietly watched the crowd of people who came to pray below.

In the church, the bishop recited the eulogy loudly, and the devout faithful sat on wooden chairs, quietly closing their eyes and making a standard prayer posture, feeling the call of the mother goddess as if it were nothing.

Many people were accustomed to seeing Her Royal Highness the eldest princess at this time, and even the bishop greeted her, and when she sat down and was about to start praying, she suddenly realized that there was another quiet prayer at the other end of the wooden chair where she was sitting.

It was a quiet, handsome young man, with short black hair on his head and Nari's characteristic three-dimensional features, all of which indicated his Kadunari half-blood, and what really attracted Elizabeth was the royal college uniform he was wearing.

Yes, the Royal Academy actually has a uniform, but no one wears it except for the academics of the Academy, and most of them wear private clothes.

But the Royal Academy, which represents the New Thought, should have very few followers of the Mother Goddess, especially when they wear such a conspicuous Royal Academy uniform.

Elizabeth glanced at the standard prayer posture of the young man with his eyes closed, and couldn't help but suspect that the person in front of her was in fact an opportunist.

He probably knew that he had to come here to pray every week, and he was proud of his good-looking skin, so he specially put on a school uniform to show his identity as the same school as him, and came here to pretend to pray, wanting to have a relationship with Her Royal Highness the eldest princess...

Elizabeth couldn't be blamed for being amorous, she had seen too many of them.

She could have ignored it, but she didn't know if it was because of the "human design" on the carriage that was quite subtle, she suddenly pointed to the other party's prayer posture rather unkindly, and reminded,

"Pray for Mother God with all your fingers crossed, you are in the wrong posture of prayer."

The gentleman, who was quite handsome just by looking at the side, ignored her, and it was not until a few seconds had passed that he seemed to realize that the other party was talking to him.

He glanced sideways at Elizabeth with a rather grim face, then turned his head away without paying attention and replied perfunctorily,

"I'm not praying to Mother God, so the posture is right, and I'm not a believer in Mother God, Your Highness."

Elizabeth was slightly stunned, she looked at the fingers of the man in front of her, and realized that he had bent his middle finger without crossing it, and in the teachings, the longest finger represented the Mother Goddess.

He was praying for someone else.

"Believers who are not Mother Goddess come to church to pray?"

"You're not a believer in the Mother Goddess, so why are you here?"

Elizabeth's pupils shrank slightly, and she didn't understand how to see through her own persona, and she was about to ask him to ask him but saw him put an index finger in front of his lips to signal himself to silence.

This man

Elizabeth ignored his silence and asked in a low voice,

"How do you know?"

The man glanced at her speechlessly, and explained helplessly,

"A truly devout believer is very attentive even if he closes his eyes and prays, but when you close your eyes, you are only in a daze, at least it is not religious, right?"

"You were just looking at me?"

Elizabeth no longer asked, but suddenly smiled slightly, and Godlin's golden face suddenly bloomed with unimaginable charm, making the young man in front of him shake his eyes, and replied a little sluggishly,

"You are Her Royal Highness the Princess, of course you are very concerned by others, and I am no exception."

"So..."

They didn't talk anymore, and both bowed their heads to themselves, and neither was so religious.

The young boy was clearly praying for someone religiously, but his posture was not so standard; His posture is obviously so standard that he can't see the flaws, but his heart is not pious at all.

Elizabeth, who closed her eyes, suddenly wondered if the handsome young man next to her would peek at her again while she was closing her eyes.

"The Mother Goddess said, Be religious, Be kind, Be selfless..."

The bishop's earnest teachings above turned into the gospel, and Elizabeth quietly opened her eyes, her head looking to the side uncontrollably - it seemed that it was the first time she had done this, and she had made such a move regardless of people, and it was clear that it would not be a good thing for such an "ungodly" thing to spread, but for some reason, Elizabeth was sure that the other party would not say it.

They seem to have some kind of inexplicable tacit understanding, obviously it is only the first time they have met, just like at this moment.

When Elizabeth opened her eyes and secretly turned her head to look at the man next to her, the man who was praying also opened her eyes at the same time, and both of them subconsciously looked at the person who was separated by a distance next to them, so they both saw the other party's head turning around...

Elizabeth had nothing to dodge, she only opened her mouth to look at the other man, and the young man in front of her looked at her neither humbly nor arrogantly, but flinched a little under the gaze of her slightly flickering, blazing golden eyes.

“.”

They didn't have any extra conversations, but they were a little surprised that the other person would do the same thing as themselves.

Elizabeth, in order not to embarrass the other, and the young man in front of her, in order not to encroach on and offend the princess, both seemed to want to get up and leave at the same time, because the prayer seemed to be over, so they stood up at the same time.

Seeing the other party's convergence again, Elizabeth couldn't help but smile anymore, but it made the extremely introverted Nari gentleman in front of her more and more embarrassed, and Elizabeth took the initiative to be a "gentleman" and said,

"You please."

"Thank you."

He was not polite, stood up and walked to the bishop in front of him, and handed an envelope to the bishop, which Elizabeth recognized, which was usually written by a living person to a deceased relative, and the bishop's confession meant that he had a relative who was a devout believer in the Mother Goddess, and was buried in the church, and rested forever under the Mother Goddess.

After the bishop nodded kindly, Elizabeth and the young gentleman did not look at each other in silent accord until the gentleman left the church through the main entrance.

Sensing the departure of the young gentleman, Elizabeth stood up in silence and walked up to the bishop, where she exchanged moments of reverence for the Mother Goddess and how she guided her life, and did not forget to donate some money like a devout believer.

No one could see what this "perfect Mother Goddess believer" really thought, except for the gentleman just now.

Maybe he did it on purpose, wanting to catch the high branches of the royal family?

But that strange tacit understanding could not make Elizabeth think like that.

She followed behind the bishop, and while talking, she watched as he took the message that the young gentleman had just handed out to the back of the church to a wall made of stone boxes, each of which was engraved with the ashes of the devout Mother Goddess, and the bishop was responsible for burning the message sent by the family to ensure that the family's thoughts would reach the kingdom of the Mother Goddess and be known to them.

In the corner of the stone wall, the bishop shook the envelope in front of a stone box and whispered,

"Messenger of Mother Goddess, your mortal relatives express their sincere thoughts to you, and may you sleep peacefully in the kingdom of Mother Goddess."

Elizabeth's golden eyes looked at it, but there was a single line carved on the stone box,

[Thank you for giving me a home when I am lonely, even if you are gone and I am alone again, you will always be my family. 】

[In memory of: Teresa Benavides, a great and devout nun]

【Fisher Benavides】

Elizabeth looked at the words on the small tombstone, and the word "family" in the words seemed to glow, causing her golden eyes to suddenly splash with layers of ripples.

She took a deep breath and looked at the church behind her, where the young gentleman was long gone; But after a second, she seemed to remember something, and suddenly looked back at the name on the tombstone.

"Fisher Benavides?"

"What did you say, Your Highness?"

"Ah, nothing. Thank you for your teaching, Bishop, I am going to take my leave. ”

"Please, Your Highness."

Elizabeth smiled perfectly, but her steps involuntarily quickened, and she left the place briskly.

(End of chapter)